Good Asian Drivers

Our impression of the purple state of Iowa is that there isn’t much there besides Drake University and corn. Their airport is small, no restaurants serve food after 10, and at rush hour, there is barely any traffic on the four lane roads. Yet, below the surface, there seems to be a bit more.

Here’s our host Calvin with a Reeses Peanut Butter cup in his mouth, who along with the support of fellow organizer Nicole, and the rest of the Rainbow Union, brought us to the Drake stage on Thursday night. Calvin tells us that there’s a significant queer population in Des Moines - in fact, one of the larger ones here in the Midwest. Drake University itself is fabulously queer and trans friendly. Their Coming Out Week programming is packed with activities such as film screenings, the wildly popular drag show, candlelight vigils, and of course, dynamic poetry/music performances by yours truly. 

The enthusiasm from the modestly-sized audience was refreshing and welcome, especially after a pretty tough day on our end, after having missed the 9am flight from JFK and having to sit until the next flight at noon, and then a layover in Detroit. (By the way, if anyone has ever been to the Detroit International Airport, it is FANCY!) 

All in all, the show was a success. The students came out and supported and bought stuff and chatted with us over late night Chinese food at the one place that was still open and relatively vegan friendly. No flubs on stage this time, and our friendly tech/admin/extraordinaire Latasha helped us with setting up the monitor which made a tremendous difference. We’re thinking about putting a stool and monitors on our riders from now on…

We’ve got a great quote of the day from Nicole who decisively chose the new tight baby tee style shirt over the more boy cut. 

“I want the tighter one because I’m slutty.” - Nicole from Rainbow Union.

This is a very busy good asian driver signing off. Till next time, be well.